Striking skyscrapers
THE Petronas Twin Towers and KL Tower have been icons of Kuala Lumpur’s city skyline for the last two decades. Besides being highly featured on postcards and souvenirs, these landmarks are the pinnacle of Malaysia’s architectural and engineering prowess. These modern structures are, however, only a glimpse of humankind’s capabilities in creating breathtaking buildings that are creative yet functional, featuring ideas that are environmentally conscious, maximise space, and reduce material and building costs. Here is a list of the most innovative international buildings of the last decade.
Al Bahr Towers, United Arab Emirates – The two 29-storey towers are home to an investment arm of the Abu Dhabi government and an Islamic bank. The main feature of the towers is the world’s largest computerised dynamic façade.
The building is covered by movable panels than can change in incidence angles to shade the interior from direct sunlight.
Each triangular panel is coated in fibreglass and programmed to respond to the movement of the sun.
Bahrain World Trade Center – The 240m twin tower complex is located in Manama, Bahrain, and is the first skyscraper to instal wind turbines as part of its main structure.
The three skybridges that connect the two towers each carry a 225kW wind turbine that measures 29m in diameter. The turbines generate 1.1GWh to 1.3GWh of electricity a year.
Though creating only about 11% to 15% of the towers’ total power consumption, the energy created is equivalent to providing lighting for about 300 homes for an entire year.
With 50 floors within each tower, the structure is also the secondtallest building in Bahrain.
Mode Gakuen Spiral Tower, Japan – At first glance, the spiral tower may look like an architect’s creative spin to designing a striking skyscraper.
However, the building is among the few twisting towers that have made it from paper to reality as it incorporates a myriad of innovative designs that enables it to achieve high seismic capacity such as a strong inner truss tube and various vibration damping systems.
The building also features a double-glassed air flow window system to reduce heat loads created by the sun and a natural air ventilation system. The tower is the pride of Nagoya, representing sound structural integrity and aesthetic designs.
Manitoba Hydro Place, Canada – What does it take to be recognised as one of the world’s most energy-efficient buildings?
The headquarters of electric power and natural gas utility company Manitoba Hydro in Canada is a 21-storey office tower that works in harmony with the natural environment and has won multiple sustainability awards.
The many features include high ceilings, a specially designed south-facing atrium that provides and preconditions the building’s constant fresh-air supply, several 24m high waterfalls to humidify and dehumidify the fresh air intake, a one-metre-wide double exterior wall with computer-controlled motorised vents that adjust the building’s exterior skin, green roofs at the base of the building to reduce stormwater runoff and sensors on highoutput lighting fixtures.